Thursday, September 11, 2014

Don’t get me wrong!I
loved every teeny tiny minute of my visit back to North
America.I got to spend
lots of quality time gardening with Corie, cooking with Caity, and watching
baseball with Danny!We had many
wonderful family dinners from Cotijas in front of the Padre game on TV!We even took in a couple of games ourselves
and Caity and I cheered at the ever so lively Bobby Sox slow pitch games that
both Corie and Danny play for.Six weeks
at home also allowed me to fly to Vancouver and
to Denver and
stay in the magnificent new homes of Mark & Wendy and Ken & Taylor as
well as do some hiking in some of the most spectacular mountains of the
world!Lots of extended family visiting,
BBQs, beach time, sweet visits with friends and that ever so satisfying
task….shopping for boat parts!The
quintessential Perfect Summer!

I wasn’t really ready to say good-bye as Corie dropped me
off at SAN for my 30 hour flight back to Phuket, but you know, when you stay
with family (even if it’s in your own house) it’s better to leave a day too
early than a day too late!Also, Neal
had been a real prince about me going off by myself to get my dose of home,
family and friends and I didn’t want him to completely forget about me!I heaved up my two 50-lb bags full of boat
parts and took a step from one world into another.

It’s pretty amazing how adaptable is the human species.Grumble as we might about change, when it
comes- we deal.My advantage here is
that after already living in Thailand
I have begun to know some of the ropes.You never know ALL of the ropes because it’s very different and
well…they change a lot!However, after
descending off my Air Korea flight and entering the packed shoulder to shoulder,
chaotic, full of Korean tour groups Thai Immigration room, I knew that there
would be somewhere…..a very short line!Five minutes later, after skirting the back wall, stepping over piles of
carry-ons and ducking behind a sign behind a potted plant, I paid my baksheesh
and my visa was stamped! Oh yeah….I remember now…..

From there on and over the following week the unusual things
that I had missed about Thailand
came flooding back to me.Good or bad,
this is the way things are:Four young
kids in school uniforms zipping home on one motor bike.Chirping geckos on the walls of the open air
restaurants.The sweet, moist smell of
the jungle at night.Traffic (motor
bikes and small delivery trucks) driving the wrong way down the highway.Knowing when the current is slack because the
fish swim in circles instead of up current.Buying pineapples at the stands on the side of the highway.Piles of flip flops outside of every
restaurant and shop, including the chandlery.Eating dinner family style at Coconut’s with a kid who grew up in Sri Lanka and a Kiwi who told a story about
spending the night in a thermal pool while lost one New Zealand winter night. Not being
able to buy booze between the hours of eleven am and five pm, unless you are
buying a lot (cases).And lastly, living on a boat in Phang Nga
Bay- always in motion,
knowing when the tide is high or low, being awakened by the long tail fishing
boats, feeling connected to the sea.

A friend recently asked me what I have learned while
traveling.Fair enough, I said while
trying to come up with a meaningful answer.In thinking about this question since, I think the answer comes in what
I have unlearned.I have unlearned that
there is only one way to do things, only one way to measure success, only one
way to define values.I have unlearned
that bigger is always better and that busy is always fulfilling.I have unlearned that the small things are
not as important as the big things.What
I have learned though, is that relationships span time and distance.That people everywhere love their children.That no matter where you travel, you can
always find a kindred spirit.That the
world is full of good food and good company.That “different” holds no value judgment.And that whenever you leave any place behind,
there will always be something you will miss.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The water is so warm in Phang Nga Bay that sea life grows at an amazing
rate.If I want to keep Rutea in a
ready-to-sail-at-a-moments-notice condition, I need to dive down and scrape the
barnacles off her prop at least once every three weeks.So, after one of these excursions to Rutea’s underside, I suggested that we
cast off the dock lines and do some exploring of the bay that we’re anchored
in.We had slipped into a routine that
was leaving us boat-bound, reluctant to leave the comfort of our air conditioning,
save for daily trips to the marina’s fitness center.Once we had our tanks full of fuel, we headed
out with our first stop to be the anchorage on the north side of Ko Boi Yai,
one of the many islands in Phang
Nga Bay
and that didn’t even show up as an anchorage in our cruising guide.From there we headed over to Ao Po, where our
friends, Bruce and Alene, are refitting their 50’ trimaran.They joined us for a day sail and we joined
them for a dinner at a local restaurant that night.

It felt so good to get away from the dock even if we did
have to suffer the heat and humidity that is the lack of air conditioning.It had been so long since we had actually be cruising and I was pleasantly surprised
at how well all of Rutea’s systems
performed after sitting at idle since March.

As we had left somewhat suddenly, we didn’t have a chance to
provision properly so we decided to just make do with what we had on board
although we were tempted to stop in Ao Chalong, a popular anchorage for
cruisers with good grocery stores nearby.But we were enjoying being away from everything too much so we decided
to press on.As we motored south, a
cloud formed over Phuket
Island and I watched it
grow from a puffy, idyllic, lazy-looking cloud into a monster of a thunderstorm.Its direction was the same as ours so I
wasn’t too concerned – until it changed directions and started to come our
way.At first I thought we could outrun
it but we later thought it would be best if we made a u-turn and headed back
north.Oops! The thunderstorm changed its direction again
and started to come right for us!We
made another u-turn and this time we had no place to run – the storm hit us
squarely.The wind gusted from a dead
calm to 30+ knots in a few seconds.A
torrential rain fell that left visibility reduced to just a few feet.Lightning filled the sky and thunder exploded
in long, rolling tolls.

A Brazilian we had met told us that some spectacular
snorkeling was to be had at Ko Mai Thon, a small island that’s not even in Phang Nga Bay but rather out in the Andaman Sea.Much of the coast of the island is roped off
as a marine preserve but we found a relatively-protected place to anchor and we
were soon loaded in the dinghy, making our way for some promising-looking
coral.The problem is that we have been
spoiled with off-the-chart places like the Tuamotus, Tonga,
Fiji,
Chesterfield Reef and the like – its hard to be enthusiastic about a place
where the coral is brown and lifeless and there’s just a few brightly-colored
fish.We did get a great sunset, though.

Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Li

We left Ko Mai Thon for Ko Phi Phi Li, the smaller of the
two Phi Phi islands but a tourist magnet nonetheless.Usually when we arrive at a place like that,
all the moorings are taken and we’re left with few good choices, however, this
time our luck was with us and we had got to pick the best mooring in all of the
famous Maya Bay.The bay is stunningly beautiful but the constant traffic of tourist
boats coming and going was distracting.Still, we got a good snorkel in and left our prized mooring as the wind
was filling in, making the place uncomfortable.We sailed around to the backside of Ko Phi Phi Li and soon ran out of
adjectives to describe it’s beauty.As
evening was approaching, we found an incredible place to spend the night.We toured around the area in the dinghy,
barbequed an excellent dinner and retired early – only to be awoken at midnight
as we had come too close to a sailboat that had picked up another mooring near
us.Protocol in this situation is well-understood
internationally – the person who was anchored (or moored) first, has the right
to stay.The second or subsequent boat
needs to move although in this case, we were concerned that if the other boat
moved to the next available mooring, we still be too close together.So we both took moorings as far apart as we
could.It took a while to let our
sleepyness return and once it did, Ruthie and I headed back to our bunk.It was only a couple hours later when we were
woken again as the wind filled in to about 30 knots and was pushing us
dangerously close to the cliff walls.I
stayed awake until daylight as one can never be sure how strong the moorings
actually are.

This morning under grey skies we moved three miles north to
Ko Phi Phi Don, a tourist destination of epic proportions.Even though this is the ‘low’ season, the
narrow sidewalks were crowded with people and all the shops were open.We had a meal and a beer and another beer as
we waited for the rain to lessen.When
it became obvious that it wasn’t going to, we launched the dinghy and drove
back to Rutea in the pouring rain.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Ruthie and I were a little anxious as we went to clear out
of Malaysia in Talaga Bay
but we needn’t have been.All of the
government officials we had dealings with in Malaysia were very relaxed and
details to them didn’t appear to be very important.With port clearance papers in hand, we headed
northwest on a fine, breezy afternoon for Ko Lipe (Ko in Thai means ‘island’), about 23 miles away.It was late enough in the afternoon that we
decided against dropping the dink and going ashore so we stayed aboard and got
our first glimpse of Thailand.Since we were only a short distance from Malaysia, we
didn’t expect any differences between the two countries to be obvious but there
were indications that things were different.For one, the boat that the fishermen used were now ‘long tails’ –
narrow, low-freeboard boats with a ridiculously long propeller shaft that
extended well beyond the transom of the boat.It wouldn’t take long before we’d notice much more dramatic differences
but from our vantage point, nestled between two thickly covered islands, boats
were about all we could see.

The wind had blown all night but we had been comfortable
enough.It continued to blow as we left
early the following morning – our hopes that we could sail to our next stop
were rising but were soon dashed as the wind died altogether and we wound up
motoring in glassy seas all the way to Ko Rok Nok.The heat was sweltering and we wasted little
time in getting into our snorkeling gear after the anchor was down.There was a very strong current running and
even though the underwater visibility wasn’t that bad, there wasn’t much sea
life to be seen.We left at first light
the next morning.

The Big Buddha on Top of the Hill Overlooks Ao Chalong

As we approached Ao Chalong on the island of Phuket,
the traffic on the VHF radio increased and we started to hear familiar voices
and boat names.The bay is big and busy,
with lots of yachts from all over the world and hundreds of boats used to ferry
tourists around Phang
Nga Bay.The tourist boats zip through the anchorage,
setting down big wakes which send everything in the cabin flying around.We went ashore, bought a Thai SIM for our
phone and wandered around a little.The
following morning we checked-in and felt more comfortable once our visas were
validated.

Thai Script is Impossible to Learn. Typical Wiring.

Thailand
is different than Malaysia!Generally speaking, the people of Thailand look much more Asian than those of Malaysia.The language is completely different –
instead of using Latin script like English or Malay, the Thai use their own
alphabet that has vowels above, below or next to the squiggly letters.We have an English-Thai app on our iPhone and
even though I swear I’m pronouncing the Thai words the same as the woman in the
app, no one in Thailand
can understand anything I’m saying.Since we eat out a lot – the Thai food is both delicious and inexpensive
– one phrase I get to practice a lot is การตรวจสอบโปรด
which means, the check, please.

The Meals Can be Fantastic Especially When Enjoyed With Cold Thai Beer

Just after we got comfortable with the anchorage in Ao
Chalong, we moved up to the Yacht Haven Marina on the northern end of Phuket Island.Its much more isolated from the intensely
tourist-oriented southern part of the island, a relatively inexpensive place to
keep Rutea and a pretty good place to
get work done.It does mean we have to
rent a car every time we want to go somewhere.

Its still insanely hot and we bought a used window-type air
conditioner to help us cope.The good
part about it is that we can now be comfortable aboard but the bad part is that
we sometimes hunker down and never leave the cool confines of the cabin.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Ruthie and I had been anxious about Rutea’s splash back into the water, not because we were concerned
about any of her systems/components but the Sea Lift that Pangkor Marina uses
to launch boats had had a major failure and we weren’t sure it would be running
at all.The staff at the marina was able
to get it patched together and our splash was uneventful, other that Ruthie and
I were delighted to be back in the water.Our refrigeration worked!We
didn’t have to climb down-and-back-up a 12' extension ladder every time we needed to
pee!It was cooler (well, maybe not but
we convinced ourselves that it was).

Hugh and Katie

We only stayed at the dock in the marina for a couple of
days before we cast off the dock lines and resumed our trip north.It felt so good to be underway again.It took a couple of days to reach Penang Island,
passing underneath the new, 23-kilometer long bridge (a section of which
collapsed before construction was complete) before tucking in behind Palau
Jerejak for the night.As luck would
have it, we got to rendezvous with our friends, Hugh and Katie on the
Kelly-Peterson 44 Elizabeth Jane II and
they took us to shore in their brand new dinghy.The following day we made our way to the
north end of Penang Island and anchored in the Junk Anchorage (I don’t know why
it’s called that but Rutea seemed
right at home), where we went ashore for fantastic dinner.

Departing the next morning just before dawn, we had the wind
fill in and soon Rutea had a bone in
her teeth once again.She was romping in
the flat seas with a 20-25 knot wind and you could just feel her smiling.We reached the Langkawi archipelago and found
a very well protected spot behind one of the 99 islands.Here we rendezvoused with more friends and
moved the following morning to the anchorage in Talaga Bay.

The islands in the Langkawi group are mostly limestone and
mudstone but even though the sheer cliffs would typically indicate deep water,
it can often be quite shallow right next to the cliffs.Regardless, the bottom is mostly thick mud
and the holding good but hosing the sticky mud off the anchor and chain can be
time consuming.

Once settled just outside of the two man-made islands that
protect the marina, we took the dink in and rented a car from the marina office
for the day.“What is your boat’s name?”
the woman behind the counter asked.We
told her and she handed us the key to a late-model Proton, a Malaysian-built
Diahatsu.“We’re not staying in the
marina,” Ruthie offered but the woman just shrugged and walked away.No contract to sign, no credit card or
driver’s license to be checked, no warning about returning the car low on
fuel.True, we are on an island and
there’s only so far we could go but it was the easiest car rental I had ever
done.

With Randy and Jenny

Lucky for us, our good friends, Randy and Jenny, on the Pacific Seacraft Mariah 31, Mystic, were already anchored at Talaga and we wasted no time in getting together with them. We had first met them in Mexico and we have rendezvoused with them all across the Pacific and Australia. While together in Talaga, we went for a hike, ate dinner together and Randy fixed our freezer as he's a brilliant refrigeration technician. Randy and Jenny are remarkable people; smart, unique, caring, brave - the list goes on - but even though they are not 'typical', they do typify the people we've met while cruising. The relationships we have formed with people we've met have often developed into deep friendships that we'll treasure for the rest of our lives. Perhaps its due to the shared experiences we have with each other but its been one of the highlights of cruising for me.

Squid boat during the day

In the late afternoon there was always a steady stream of
small squid boats heading out for their nightly vigil.From our vantage point, their bright green
lights looked like a well-lit highway out in the middle of the ocean.

Squid boats at night

The town of Kuah
is the largest in Langkawi and it’s a popular tourist destination.What was really intriguing to us though is
the fact that Langkawi is a duty-free port.This means that there is no import duty on any goods that arrive there,
including booze.With the location of a
wholesale warehouse scribbled down on a matchbook cover, we set out to find
this Palace of Pleasure, driving into some remote parts
of the Malay jungle before we found it.This was no Costco although they did have a somewhat eclectic collection
of goods.Most of the booze was in
arbitrary stacks, none of it priced and most of it looking very dusty.The wine, however, was kept in an air
conditioned room although it, too, looked more like a random collection of
boxes with no organization whatsoever.Ruthie was able to find a couple of cases of the Italian Pinot Grigio
she likes and I bought a case of Absolut vodka in one liter bottles.The wine came out to about US$14 per bottle
and the vodka came out to about US$10 per bottle.The five cases of beer we bought was less
than US$10 per case.

With Rutea’s holds
filled with precious but cheap cargo, we checked out of Talaga
Bay and Malaysia.Her bow was pointed northwest and our next
destination was Thailand.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

One of my favorite
lines in the movie Dances With Wolves takes
places when Lieutenant John Dunbar (played by Kevin Costner) is traveling west
with Timmons, the meatheaded mule train driver (played by Robert Pastorelli)
come across a human skeleton. Timmons looks at the skeleton, snorts and says,
“There’s probably folks back home saying, ‘Why don’t he write?’”

Hoisting the Malaysia Courtesy Flag

Ruthie and I have covered quite a few miles since my last
post although a fraction of them were aboard Rutea.The passage from Singapore to Malaysia, although intense, was
only 24 hours long.It was intense
because we were at the narrowest part of the Malacca Straits and the constant
stream of heavy freighter traffic required us to be on our toes.Just outside of the Vessel Traffic Separation
(VTS) channels were thousands of unlit small fishing boats.Throw in the random squall with heavy
lightning and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a sleepless night.Regardless, we pulled into Admiral Marina, a Southern California marina look-alike, the next morning
without incident and we did the check-in cha-cha without our nerves getting too
frayed despite our lack of sleep.There
were a couple of boats there that we knew and that evening we all got together
for elbow-bending exercises at the bar that overlooks the marina.The following night all of us got together
again and took a couple of taxis to a Mexican restaurant (really?A Mexican restaurant in Malaysia?Yup.) where the food was not very good but
even our Aussie friends enjoyed the party atmosphere that seems unique to
Mexican restaurants.The main benefit,
though, was meeting the taxi driver, who we hired the next day to take us on a
tour of Melaka City, a 100km from the marina.

Oldest Mosque in Malaysia

Since it received it’s World Heritage Site designation in
2008, Melaka City
has exploded with tourism but we still found it’s Chinatown
and old Portuguese part to be filled with almost a kind of mysticism – one
could tell that there was a lot more going on than met the eye but even the
façade was fascinating.We also saw
Muslim and Hindu temples – its probably as close as Ruthie will ever come to
wearing a Burqa but she was required to wearing a covering while in the
mosque.By the end of the day we came to
the realization that we probably should have spent two or even three days in Melaka City
but we had a schedule to keep so we made it back to the ship and departed a few
days later for Marina Island Pangkor.

It was another 150-mile passage from Port Dickson (Admiral
Marina) to Marina Island, a man-made island between the Malay peninsula
and the predominately-resort island
of Pangkor.I was very disappointed when we arrived and
despite the fact that we had made reservations months in advance to stay here,
I immediately jumped on the internet to see if we could find someplace
else.First of all, the slip to which we
were assigned was way too small – Rutea’s
ass stuck way out into the fairway and the finger barely made it to her
midship.The docks were made of extruded
aluminum which is far better suited to being on a calm lake somewhere as
opposed to being on the edge of the Indian Ocean.There are almost no facilities – the showers
share the small stall with the toilet (there’s only cold water but in a place
as hot as Malaysia,
who’d want hot water anyway?) and there’s only three stalls – two of which have
western-style toilets but one has the eastern style.On one of the doors is a sign that says
‘Women’ but men are just as likely to use it.In fact, its very obvious who has used the toilet last if you can see footprints
on the toilet rim where someone has squatted.

While being in the slip was less than ideal, when we were
hauled out was even worse.Because our
refrigeration system uses ocean water for cooling, once we were hauled out
meant no refrigeration.Nor could you
use the toilets on board.Or the sinks,
although we did shove a hose up the galley sink drain throughhull and put a
bucket underneath it so we could at least wash our hands.The marina rented us a 12’ stepladder but
advised us to pull it up on deck at night to discourage rats from climbing
aboard.The marina yard itself is dirt
and weeds – with the ebb and flow of boats there are usually around 20-25 boats
propped up with various types of homemade stands.

It wasn’t until we had been on the hard for a few days that
I began to relax and even start to appreciate the place.I spoke with several boat owners who said
they had had work done in quite a few places in southeast Asia and found
Pangkor to be the best.This was
reassuring to me.We finally got a
meeting with Jimmy, a local contractor who is known for his fantastic spray
painting abilities.This too was
reassuring that we were able to find a highly-skilled craftsman with whom we
could have an intelligent conversation about complex issues relating to boat
maintenance.Furthermore, we met Jo,
another contractor, who was also able to give us confidence that anything we
hired him to do would be done correctly.Other than hauling boats in and out of the water, the marina offers no
services.

We didn’t have too much time to complain, though, as we
needed to get ready for our trip back to California.This trip had been planned for a long time as
we had even gone as far as to buy a dehumidifier while we were still in
Australia to attempt to keep the boat dry and mold-free while we were gone (its
so hot and humid here that mold can grow on almost anything).Unfortunately, the unit died when we plugged
it in.This just left us hoping for the
best.

Ian and Sean

Ruthie's Birthday Party

Our trip home was wonderful, starting with a traditional Thanksgivingand quickly built to a crescendo when our
son, Ian, married his partner, Sean, in San
Francisco.My
sister hosted the wedding itself at her spectacular homeIt was a terrific weekend and its unlikely
that anyone who attended will forget about it anytime soon.My congratulations go out to them one more
time.I took a way-too-short trip down
to La Paz, BCS
to see my brother on his boat.Our
family spent Christmas together for the first time in three years and we
enjoyed a low-key but delicious New Year’s Eve.Our two-month stay in San Diego was
capped by a 60th birthday party for Ruthie, where friends and family
from all up and down the west coast of North America
traveled thousands of miles to celebrate with her.

Loaded down with six large pieces of luggage, each weighing
on average 30 kilos, we carried a not-too-small chandlery of boat parts with us
back to Malaysia.I had rehearsed in my mind the arguments I
was going to have with the Malay Customs officials on why we didn’t have to pay
import duty on thousands of dollars worth of boat parts but it was time poorly
spent as the Customs officials didn’t even glance at us as we made our way
through that portion of the airport.Maybe it was because it was 0400 in the morning?Rutea
was in great shape when we returned but the work that we had contracted to be
done while we were gone had barely gotten started.This was blamed on bad weather.A further delay was blamed on Chinese New
Year where almost everything in the country shuts down for a week.Of course, we had plenty to do, our days
filled with boat chores and whining about living on the hard.

To make things a little easier on us, we went in with some
friends on the rental of a small car.Our half share of the rental was RM175.00 (about US$60) for two weeks
and this felt like a pretty significant expense, especially if you saw or drove
the car.You would have thought that the
Malay builders of the car might have checked to see if the name they chose for
the car had a different meaning in some other language and, who knows, they may
have done so but they still chose to name the car after a deer found in
Malaysia called a Kancil, pronounced
‘cancel’.To me, ‘cancel’ and ‘reject’
are almost synonymous.Still, it means
we can run errands without having to rent one of the marina's motor scooters
(even with both of us wearing backpacks, you can only carry so much on a motor
scooter) and it means since we don’t have to walk to go out for dinner (which
we do most nights), we don’t arrive at a restaurant soaked in sweat.

Enough whinging! Rutea is suppose
to splash on the 13th of February and we hope to get underway
shortly thereafter, making our way north to Thailand.It will be such a relief to be back in the
water!

About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.